Hold Congress Accountable

Knowledge is power. It makes sure people understand what is happening to their country, and how they can make a difference. FreedomWorks University will give you the tools to understand economics, the workings of government, the history of the American legal system, and the most important debates facing our nation today. Enroll in FreedomWorks University today!

Search FreedomWorks

Resources

Blog

DeMint: States Should Reject Medicaid Expansion "Fool's Gold"

Jim DeMint, president of The Heritage Foundation and formerly a U.S. senator from South Carolina, described the promise of Obamacare Medicaid expansion funding as “fool’s gold” in an August 26 interview with Media Trackers.

“I hope the people of Ohio will not take what I call fool’s gold; it looks good, it’d make the budget look good the next three to four years – that’s if the federal government comes through with this,” DeMint said of the major component of President Obama’s 2010 health law still being debated in the Ohio General Assembly and several other states.

“I don’t think we can call it compassion to make people dependent on the government, and trap them in dependency,” DeMint explained.

“Putting people on Medicaid has not proved to help people’s health care,” DeMint said. “In fact, the data suggest that people with no insurance at all are as healthy or healthier than those on Medicaid.”

Academic research supports DeMint’s position. For example, a 2010 University of Virginia study found that surgical patients covered by Medicaid were 13 percent more likely to die than those without health insurance.

“Once they’re on Medicaid, it’s very difficult for them to work their way off,” DeMint added. ”We just find it traps people. More and more physicians are closing their practices to Medicare and Medicaid, and I just don’t think it’s compassionate at all.”

Of the taxpayer burden represented by the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, DeMint said, “The way the federal government has incentivized it is to put in a lot of up-front money, but over a ten-year period it will cost Ohio billions of dollars to move people onto Medicaid plans that are already strangling state governments.”

“I would just encourage any state to look at what Medicaid is doing to their current budget and recognize that the promises of more federal money over time are just not gonna come true,” DeMint continued.

“The federal government is broke, it’s printing money, it’s borrowing money, and the likelihood that they’re even gonna come through on the promises they’ve made for Medicaid expansion… they’re not real.”

“The best thing we can do for our country now is to have states be demonstration projects for freedom,” DeMint told Media Trackers.

“The federal government is not gonna provide good health care for our poor,” he concluded. “That’s something we can do a lot better at the state level.”

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) linked to this instructional video produced by Texas State Rep.Lois Kolkhorst, the Republican chairwoman of the House Public Health Committee. In the video, Kolkhorst says Texas will benefit from exchange subsidies even though Texas has not created an Obamacare exchange.

FreedomWorks recently hosted a conference call for bloggers and reporters with the House Republican Doctors Caucus. The forum allowed caucus members to make statements regarding the third anniversary of the passage of Obamacare, and the murky future of this deeply flawed legislation. Bloggers and reporters were given the opportunity to ask questions of the caucus members, leading to a lively discussion on the future of health care under this onerous bill.

Last Friday, the Senate voted on dozens of amendments to their budget resolution before eventually (narrowly) passing the budget itself. This frenzy of amendments, known as a "vote-a-rama", gave many Senators a chance to force their colleagues onto the record on many key issues that have not come up for a vote in the Senate in years.Among the most important (and revealing) votes were on Medicare reform, internet sales taxes, ObamaCare repeal, carbon taxes, and Senator Rand Paul's budget plan.

Ohio has become a Medicaid expansion Twilight Zone, as avowedly conservative Governor John Kasich works with progressive activists to deliver new entitlement benefits with money that doesn't exist. Ohio's press, which loves the idea of "free" federal funding through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), repeats pro-expansion falsehoods without a hint of skepticism.

Despite every attempt by congressional Republican leaders to preemptively surrender, the fight to get a sane Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund only the necessary parts of government is not over. Senate Democrats and the White House, not content with victory, are pushing for even more spending and taxes, giving reformers an opportunity.

On today’s edition of The FreedomCast, Philip Klein senior editorial writer for the Washington Examiner joins me to discuss the third anniversary of Obamacare. how we were told it would create more affordable health insurance and better access to health care. Has it done either?

Democracy and Power 101: Government is powerThe essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. —James Madison, Speech in the Virginia State Convention of 1829-1830